If We Want an Empathic Civilization, We Need to Cultivate It

"To empathize is to civilize; to civilize is to empathize." ~ Jeremy Rifkin

There's been a fair amount of buzz in the media reflecting concern for a loss of empathy in our culture. From the study asserting that today's college students are less empathetic, to concerns about the effects of the internet on empathy to the uproar about "judicial empathy" as part of the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Elena Kagan, our society seems to be wondering where our concern and compassion for each other (and for other beings) has gone. It's pretty simple. As Colman McCarthy once said: "Why are we violent but not illiterate? Because we are taught to read."

If we want a just, compassionate world where our citizens can easily tap into their empathy for others, we need to teach it. We need to nurture, cultivate and model it as part of the core of what it means to be human. It needs to be a part of our daily lives and part of our educational, health care, economic and other systems.

As Jeremy Rifkin points out in his excellent speech on "The Empathic Civilization," we've evolved to be empathetic ("We are soft wired to experience another's plight as if we are experiencing it ourselves."), but we have to cultivate it. We have to "bring out that core nature" rather than repressing it through parenting and/or the systems we have in place. Watch the video (about 10 mins.):



How are you cultivating empathy in your own lives and as parents, humane educators, and citizens of a global community?

~ Marsha

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